Dr. Steve’s comments concerning the President's White House Conference on School Safety
October 10, 2006

I was honored to be invited to the President’s Conference on School Safety. Approximately 500 educators and law enforcement officials attended the hastily organized conference, which was held in the 4-H Conference Center in Chevy Chase, MD, on Tuesday, October 10, 2006.
     The conference moderators were Margaret Spelling, Secretary of Education, and Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General. The agenda included three panel discussions: (1) Preventing Violence, (2) Prepared Schools and Communities are Safer, and (3) Helping Communities Heal and Recover. Panelists spoke and audience members asked questions or gave “spot commercials” for their programs. Laura Bush gave some warm remarks, and President Bush presided over the last hour. The conference, in spite of all the security issues, ran smoothly and on time. I felt privileged to be part of it.
     The presentations provided an overview of school violence, offered best practices, and encouraged schools and communities to work together and develop and practice ways to react to violence.
     However, the conference offered few new ideas.
     • Gun control, an issue that many of us are very concerned about, was not directly addressed.
     • Despite audience appeals for funds for effective prevention and intervention programs (such as, student assistance programs, counseling and mental health programs for students and teachers, parent education, media awareness, bullying prevention, and character or values education), the President announced no new policies or funding initiatives.
     • African-Americans I talked with after the conference expressed concern that there were no African-Americans on the panels. Nor were any American Indians.
     • Panelists talked about collaborations of agencies, but did not address student confidentiality issues.
     I personally feel that the cuts in the Safe and Drug Free Schools budget, the No Child Left Behind emphasis on the academic student, and failure to address the needs of the whole child, including the mental, social, emotional, spiritual and physical dimensions, will make schools less safe and students less healthy.
     As I said in USA TODAY (10/4/06), “It's not school violence- it’s community violence that takes place in school.” Today in a time where the unthinkable is happening, I believe school safety needs to be built in, not tacked on, with a three-prong approach: one, prevention education (school, home and community), two, security and law enforcement (with trained and alert professionals such as school resource officers) and three, mental health services (before and after violence).
     There is no one best way, or easy way, to make schools safe, only intelligent alternatives where schools (including students) and communities become involved and gain ownership to build effective programs which will help prevent, respond to and recover from violence.
     It is a time for professionals, parents and students to rally for safe and healthy schools and communities because safe and healthy students learn more. If we fail, many of our students will be left behind.
     During this school year, I will be presenting school (k-12) and community programs as well as keynoting several state and national professional conferences promoting safe and healthy schools and communities. Some of the titles of the programs include, “Moving Beyond Metal Detectors and Tasers, Putting a Human Face on School Safety,” and, “The Power of One– Making a Difference in your Schools, Communities and Lives.”
For more information, or if you have any questions, please contact me at: drssroka@aol.com